Walking On Sunshine
by corikane
Summary: Beca and Chloe are playing hooky on a beach. (Really fluffy.)


**A/N: Another one-shot. Title taken from same song by Katrina and the Waves - which I love because it's a feel-good song. And I guess that's what I want my story to convey also: feel-good. No copyright infringement is intended in any form.**

* * *

'Let's play hooky and go to the beach," she had said.

For Beca, playing hooky wasn't exactly a problem. Her professors usually looked slightly confused when she actually showed for a class, not sure if she had a right to be there. Playing hooky had become a way of life for Beca. But she usually spent that time making music, or listening to music, or at the radio station archiving music. Going to the beach wasn't really on her kind of agenda. On the other hand, when Chloe turned those baby blues on her she just turned into puddy and nodded, said it was fine, whatever and would do what Chloe asked her to do. It had been that way from the day in the shower; she just couldn't resist Chloe Beale.

This turned out to be more true than ever when they were standing in the warmed sand, looking at the waves coming in lazily and Chloe stripped to a two piece swimsuit - pink and flimsy as it was. Beca almost swallowed her tongue, then stared, then blushed and quickly looked away. But the sight had burned her and as far as she could tell, Chloe was completely oblivious to how Beca reacted to her semi-nakedness. And why wouldn't she be? She had told Beca that she was 'confident about all this;' she wouldn't be concerned about anyone looking at her - be it in censure or admiration. Beca wasn't quite as confident about all hers.

"The water's probably a little cold - you wanna go in now or wait till it's warmer?" Chloe turned to her friend, smiling as she did.

"Let's wait till it's warmer," Beca said. She tried a tentative smile of her own when Chloe looked her up and down.

"The sun's already warm, though. You're going to lose those shorts and shirt? You are wearing a swimsuit under, right?"

"Erm, yeah, I am... just..."

"Come on, don't be shy. I have seen you in less, remember?" Chloe winked at her and Beca blushed lightly.

"How could I forget? That was the most memorable shower I ever took," she gave back and the redhead laughed.

"Always glad to be of service." Chloe pulled a beach towel from the bag she'd brought and spread it on the sandy surface. The towel was so typical Chloe, Beca had to chuckle. There was a kind of cutesy animated unicorn on it, riding on a rainbow. It looked like the kind of towel a five-year old girl would pick, or a 22-year old redheaded Barden Bella she got to know pretty well over the last eight months.

"What?" Chloe asked but grinned as she sat down on the towel.

"Nothing," Beca gave back and chose the moment when Chloe settled down more comfortably to shed her own clothes. She was wearing a dark red one-piece. She had had it for a couple years now but had only worn it once when she had taken a vacation with her mother which had included a day at a spa. To say that she had grown into it, though, was an understatement. She hadn't even known her boobs were so big until she had looked at herself in the mirror wearing the suit. They seemed enormous to her and she had contemplated maybe just wearing a tank top and shorts. But that had seemed kind of lame, so now she was wearing this and it made her feel very self-conscious. It didn't help that when she sat down in the sand spreading her own towel, she noticed that Chloe and her attires clashed when it came to color.

She rolled her eyes at herself before she noticed that Chloe was looking at her.

"That's a cute swim suit," the redhead volunteered as she looked on rather appreciatively.

"I haven't worn it in awhile. I think maybe it shrank a little." Beca pulled at the straps, uncomfortable at the display of cleavage she showed.

"I don't think swim suits can shrink. That would kinda defeat the purpose. You just... grew a little," Chloe said smilingly.

"Yeah... whatever," Beca groused and lay back on her towel. Chloe, meanwhile, took sun screen from her bag.

"You shouldn't feel embarrassed about your body, Becs. You're a very beautiful woman with a killer body. You should show it off more," her friend told her and started applying the sun screen. Beca watched her from the corner of her eyes. It seemed ridiculously sensual the way Chloe let her hands massage the oily cream into her skin. She knew that she was staring - although she had never before known that you could stare without directly looking at something - but she just didn't seem able to avert her eyes, close them, look at the water. She felt mesmerized.

There was a nagging voice in the back of her head, telling her it was rude to stare, that it was wrong to stare at a friend and get worked up over it. That voice had made an early appearance in their friendship as sometimes Beca couldn't keep the image of Chloe's naked body in the shower in check. She had filed it away, somehow, as something she had enjoyed looking at and every so often it made a reappearance before her inner eye. At first, it had shocked her how casually the image had appeared - the first time when Chloe had shown her the moves of the routine quite hands-on. She had snapped at the redhead, although it hadn't been her fault at all. It had just been herself, not being able to get her head out of the gutter. And now thinking about Chloe's naked body had become... a very private indulgence. The image was getting a little blurry by now, though. It had been so long since it had happened... but now this... display of confident hands carressing her own skin...

Beca felt herself blushing once again but not for the reasons she had been blushing before, this was mere heat flushing her cheeks as arousal flushed her body.

She forcefully snapped her eyes shut, swallowing a whimper and hoping that this day would be over soon and they would be on their way back to campus in no time.

But, of course, she wasn't going to be that 'lucky.'

"Hey, will you do my back?" Chloe poked her in the arm just as Beca felt that she had her blood-pressure under control again.

"Huh?" the answer came back stupidly.

"My back, can you apply the lotion to my back?"

'Oh shit,' thought Beca as she opened her eyes and looked up at her friend. She nodded and sat up but she could hardly feel her hands as Chloe handed the sun screen to her and she put a generous glob on it. Was she actually shaking?

Luckily, Chloe had already turned away, pulling her long red tresses from her back to her front.

Beca rolled her eyes at herself and told herself to get a grip before she started applying the lotion on Chloe's back. The strap of Chloe's top got a little in the way and Beca tried to get the lotion off it again.

"Don't bother...," Chloe told her before swift fingers untied the knot and she pulled her top off. "These things are so useless. They reveal more than they conceal, they untie themselves in the waves and when you try to get them off afterwards, the knot you tied after it had come undone won't budge... I hate these things," she ranted and didn't notice Beca's alarmed facial expression.

"Uh-hm," the brunette made, silently cursing herself for having been so stupid and not just stayed clear of the damned strap. Now there was no strap, there was no nothing covering Chloe's breasts and although she couldn't even see them from her position she was sure the sight of them would kill her instantly.

Damn that crush she had on Chloe! Damn Chloe for bringing her here and stripping almost completely naked! Damn herself for being such a hormonal bag of... lady feelings!

Beca forced herself to finish applying lotion to Chloe's back. She did a fairly good job of it, she thought before lying back down on her towel, closing her eyes, so as not to stare at Chloe's naked breasts before she even told her she was done.

"Thanks, sweety," Chloe told her. "How about you? You're not going to put on any lotion? You know with your light skin tone you probably should."

'Damn, damn, and double damn!' She hadn't even thought of it.

"I can do your back," the redhead said and her voice sounded rather sultry to Beca's ears. But that must have been her imagination. Unless Chloe was simply teasing her which she so often did.

Beca opened her eyes, concentrating on only looking into Chloe's eyes when she looked over, not at anything else, especially not at those perfectly round globes on her torso... oops.

Beca took the lotion from Chloe and started applying it on her arms and legs and face, wishing she had opted for a less revealing suit when she had been 16 and unselfconscious because the only one who would see her in this suit would be her mom anyways... and maybe one or two female spa-workers - or so she had thought. There had been more people around at the time, and she had seen a couple of men looking at her... but that had been nothing at all to the feeling of Chloe looking at her now, and she was indeed looking. And it would be nothing to the feeling of having Chloe's hands on her back where the suit was generously cut.

"My turn," Chloe said enthisiasticly when Beca handed her the sun screen back. And she made a good and very thorough job of it, tickling Beca and writing something on the brunette's back, giggling as Beca failed to recognize what it had been but not saying what she had written. Chloe was having far too much fun, and she herself was far too worked up over something as innocently as spending a day at the beach with her best friend.

* * *

They had lain in the sun for some time, making interrupted conversation, before getting up to get into the water for a while. Chloe had thankfully put her top back on but had been right about it working itself lose at some point which wasn't at all surprising. Chloe jumped around wildly, swimming, then diving and then - out of nowhere - jumping at Beca and trying to dip her under. They splashed at each other and were mostly just having fun - and then Chloe came up topless and Beca simply stared at her breasts. But they were beautiful...

Chloe noticed Beca's stare and looked down on herself.

"Oh, damn, where is that thing now?" She asked and turned looking for her top but couldn't see it anywhere. "Do you see it?" She asked and looked back at her friend who was still staring. "Beca?"

"Huh?" The brunette's eyes darted from their resting point to Chloe's face and, of course, the redhead smirked.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked and Beca blushed so deeply and completely it made her head swim.

"Sorry," she mumbled and started looking around for Chloe's elusive garment now.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Stare if you want, I don't mind," her friend told her. Beca gave an irritated shake of her head, not ready to discuss this and not wanting to indicate that she would accept Chloe's invitation.

"There," she finally pointed at Chloe's pink bikini top which had been washed up on the beach. She walked toward it, reaching it before Chloe did and handing it to her, again minding that she wouldn't look at Chloe again. She couldn't see the slight frown on her friend's face as she put her top back on.

Beca left the water and walked back up to their towels. Chloe followed. They dried themselves and then sat back down. Chloe was watching Beca intently and the brunette was very aware of it but she didn't say anything. Chloe finally sighed.

"Please, don't be embarrassed, Beca. It's not like I haven't been looking at you... and we have seen each other naked before, so, it sholdn't be such a big deal, right?"

"No, it shouldn't be," Beca agreed but there seemed to be words unsaid. Something was obviously bothering the brunette. "You're a beautiful woman, Chloe," she then said and lifted her gaze to meet Chloe's.

"Thank you, Beca, that's very sweet of you. I already told you that you are," she smiled in that way of hers, the one that made you feel better, that made you feel accepted no matter how embarrassed or awkward or nerdy you felt. Beca nodded at Chloe's words.

"Do you wanna go back? Or..."

"No, let's stay for a little longer. We have time, right?" the brunette asked and her friend nodded.

"Yeah, I mean... I haven't planned on showing up to any class today, so..."

"And I never show up to any class, so..." Beca grinned at Chloe and she answered in kind. They settled back onto their towels, more relaxed now, though Beca wondered at what it all meant. Chloe had never been particularly shy about complimenting her friends. Beca had witnessed it almost daily for the last few months; Chloe would say something like: 'gosh, Stacie, you have amazing legs' or 'I so love your hair, CR' and she touched people, not in a sexual way, not romantic but Chloe was touchy-feely... she touched and she appreciated. And as far as Beca could tell, they had all just accepted this after the first times where it may have been a little awkward. It was no big deal - until it became a big deal for Beca. The almost depressing thing about this was that Chloe didn't mean anything by it. She just appreciated beauty and she found it in all of her fellow Bellas, in her friends, even sometimes quite randomly in someone walking by. She had complimented Uni on his abs last week, and Jesse on his smile just the other day.

And today she had told Beca that she was beautiful and although the small DJ had tried to brush it off as nothing, hadn't even commented on it, she had felt the compliment to her core. And she had felt Chloe's admiring gaze on her and it made her stomach flutter. How could this all mean nothing?

Beca looked over to Chloe who had her eyes closed. She let her eyes wander down the older woman's body, the muscular arms and shoulders, the small but perfect breasts underneath her top, her stomach that showed the slight outline of abs, those glorious thighs, her perfectly formed calves and ankles. She even had beautiful feet! It was almost unfair that anyone should look like this but it wasn't envy that made Beca look. It was sheer unadulterated desire, accompanied by the need to be near Chloe, to hear her laugh, to make her laugh. To talk to Chloe, to be hugged by her and held, and teased. This was more than a crush, it was more than she'd ever felt for anyone.

'And it's useless. Congrats, Mitchell, you've fallen for your best friends... you're an idiot!' she told herself and closed her eyes again.

* * *

It was a drop of water that woke Beca from a restful doze. At first she thought that Chloe had been back into the water and was now teasing her but when she opened her eyes there were dark clouds above her and then more water hit her. It was starting to rain. Chloe sat up next to her.

"Oh God, quick, this is going to come down hard," she predicted as she was more used to the sudden downpours of the south. She picked up her stuff, Beca doing the same and then they dashed back to Chloe's Beattle. They didn't make it before getting drenched by the rain and when they sat in the car they were both panting and shivering from the water that cooled on their skins.

"Urgh," Beca made and looked out of window, or tried as the rain came down so hard that there wasn't really anything to see. "Looks like we're stuck here."

"It won't be long. Those downpours rarely are, though it will be too cool to go back down and continue our sunbath," Chloe said and made a disappointed face. She was pulling her t-shirt over her head. It was slightly damp but she had had it in her bag so it wasn't as bad as it could be. Beca's was, though. She hadn't brought a bag, only her towel and her sunglasses. She had tried to roll up her clothes in her towel as they ran toward Chloe's car but had been quite unsuccesful, her shirt was drenched. She pulled it awkwardly over her head and it clung to her so tightly she felt even more exposed than in only her swim suit. And, of course, because the garment was slightly cool, her nipples reacted instantly.

"Wet," she said, then added: "and cold." She looked up at Chloe and caught the redhead staring. Her pulse started fluttering in her throat but then a sinking feeling rushed her stomach and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, I get it. Payback," she said and Chloe's bright blue eyes looked up at her questioningly. "I stared at you, now you stare at me. You know I'm really sorry about that and..."

"Beca," the redhead interrupted. "Does it make you uncomfortable when I'm looking at you?"

"I... I mean... I... a little," she finally got out.

"Why? Because I'm a woman and you think I shouldn't be looking at you that way?" Beca shook her head slowly to that question.

"No, I mean... I've been looking at you that way... earlier, so... I just don't know... why you would do that? Look at me," she confessed. Chloe's eyes turned very pale, her gaze almost like a soft carress.

"I told you you're a beautiful woman. You're very attractive, Becs. I really enjoy looking at you," she told her friend then stretched her hand out to push some of Beca's wet hair behind her ear. Her hand was lingering, touching Beca's temple, then her cheek. She cupped it, looking deeply into the younger woman's eyes.

"You do that with a lot of people, looking at them, telling them they're attractive," Beca said quitely.

"There are very many different things I find beautiful or sexy about a person, yes. I remark on these things. It makes people feel good about themselves, and I like to do that. But... I don't tell them they're attractive unless I really find them so - attractive to me. I'm really attracted to you, Beca, and that's why I'm looking... staring at you, like all the time," she told her friend and Beca stared at her. To say that she had not expected this, was an understatement. To say that she understood it, a blatant lie.

"You're attrected to me?"

"That's what I said. Haven't you been paying attention?" Chloe smiled again, teasing the younger woman a little.

Beca was fighting with her emotions. She felt all these things, everything really. The goosebumps on her skin, the slight chill from wearing wet clothes, her embarrassment at being young and naive and really inexperienced. And, of course, those pesky butterflies that were dancing wildly in her stomach.

"I... Me too... to you. I'm... attracted to you," she stammered and Chloe looked back at her surprised.

"Really?" Beca nodded, not wanting to embarrass herself any further by being unintelligible.

Chloe laughed, pulling Beca's face closer to her and putting their foreheads together.

"I'm so happy to hear that," she said. "I'm gonna kiss you now," she told her friend and touched her lips to the brunette's.

Her lips were warm and soft, and they were spreading this same warm softness throughout Beca's body. The smaller woman tentatively touched Chloe's arm, the one whose hand held her face. She carressed the warm skin as their lips explored each other slowly, deliberately.

"Is this okay?" the redhead asked when they parted. She was looking at Beca who still had her eyes closed but was nodding to the question. "You're so quiet. Are you sure, you're alright?"

"I'm alright. I'm... great," Beca said and opened her eyes. She smiled at Chloe and the redhead laughed.

"You're not... very experienced, are you?" the older woman asked haltingly. She didn't want to hurt Beca by the assumption but she had to know. She didn't want to overwhelm Beca. Her answer was a shake of the head, and an embarrassed blush.

"Does it show?"

"No, just... you were so embarrassed when I caught you staring and... some other things... not from your kissing... you're a good kisser," Chloe reassured Beca who nodded.

"So are you," Beca gave back and recaptured Chloe's lips in another kiss. This one wasn't as unsure as the first, not as soft, not as tentative. It turned hungry and they deepened it as their tongues joined in, carressing each other, licking where they roamed.

The atmosphere in the small car got heated quickly, the windows fogged up as the young women got bolder in their exploration of each other. Chloe moaned deeply when Beca's hand cupped one of her breasts and she lay a halting hand on the other's woman's.

"We should probably... slow down a little," she told the brunette.

"Sorry, I..."

"Don't be sorry. It feels wonderful," Chloe reassured her and smiled. Then she took Beca's hand from her breast and held it in both her own. "I really want to... go further with you. But not here and not now. This car is far too small for any of that and... I think we should take our time... I don't just wanna sleep with you, you know? I wanna... date you," the redhead said and waited for Beca's reaction which was another nod of the head.

"Dating sounds good. As does... the other stuff," Beca grinned.

"You really want this, right? I mean, you really want me?"

"Yes, I do. I... I've never felt this way about anyone, Chloe. It's new and... confusing but I really want... you," she confessed.

"Wow. I never would have guessed."

"Not even after I blatantly stared at you?" Chloe chuckled and Beca joined her.

"That was my first hint," the redhead said and they laughed some more.

"Well, it's nice that you weren't just teasing me with... you know, the lotion and taking off your top," Beca said and smirked.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I... I thought I was just doing that to myself... I mean... I wanted..." Chloe blushed which told Beca that the sexual undertones were clearly mutual and even enjoyed by the redhead.

"You wanted to touch me?"

"I'm very touchy-feely, as you know and... well, yeah, I wanted to touch you so very much," Chloe confessed.

"Well, from now on when you feel like that... just tell me and we can see what we can do about it." The brunette leaned into Chloe and they kissed again, slowly this time, conveying emotions, sharing their feelings.

The end.


End file.
